I’ve had my 16-station gen 2 controller less than a week, and I love it; it replaced a pretty good and pretty old Hunter. It will be great because we travel a lot and the landscaping can go south fast if something fails without my knowledge. However there were some real hurdles the first few days (did I really read somewhere about a 30 minute setup???)

The instructions call for wall mounting the controller, then attaching the wires. It is actually easier to attach the wires, then mount the unit. This is because the tiny wire openings on the connector face downward, making the wire insertion hard to control without standing on your head, which I find uncomfortable on a concrete floor and the lighting is really poor.

Speaking of the connector, the small tabs seem very fragile and I had great difficulty sensing how hard to depress one before inserting the wire. And 18 AWG wire does not like to stay straight when it reaches the slightest of unseen obstacles, which seemed to happen often.

I agree with your observation. The wiring terminals need to be irrigation industry standard stainless steel screws. If the wiring terminal is made in China, standard Hunter controllers made in China have regular stainless steel screws. This is the type of wiring I like